TfL Is Trialling A New Bus Announcement And It’s Fair To Say Londoners Are FURIOUS

Last week TfL introduced a new ‘Please hold on, the bus is about to move” announcement to help improve safety on their bus services.

According to the powers that be, around 3,000 people are injured on London buses every year because of falls. So this was a great idea, right? Wrong. Unfortunately, this well-meaning gesture has not exactly gone to plan…

Apparently, the automated alerts are set to go off just before the average amount of time a bus waits at a stop. Unsurprisingly, buses sometimes leave earlier than average, and other times, later than average. So basically, announcements are being played on London’s buses at seemingly random intervals throughout the journey.

And it’s fair to say that a great deal of Londoners are rather miffed about it.

This trial has to end. These announcements are making bus journeys unbearable. It’s like water torture

Lily fell in love with London after visiting the Natural History Museum on a day-trip from Bristol (aged four) and she’s never looked back. She’s a sucker for smashed avo’ and poached egg on toast, and she just can’t help herself from frequently posting pictures of her food on Instagram.

2 comments

Thank you everyone on Twitter for saying exactly what I would say.
1. Why didn’t TfL test it before deploying it to EVERY BUS IN LONDON!?
2. The beeping of the closing doors should be enough for visually impaired people, right?

… and while we’re at it, let’s get rid of the same annoying announcement that plays every time the doors open – “[number] to [destination]” – we can read, and those who can’t can ask the driver!

I suggest to get rid of that announcement and replace it with ‘Please do not leave litter on the bus. Please take it with you’. It is shocking the amount of litter people just dump on the seat next to them or on the floor. Yesterday there were so many empty crisps packets, banana peels and empty cans on the floor at the front of the bus that no one wanted to take a seat there. Why Brits are so messy? It’s shocking and disgusting!